Time Changes Everything
by HighOnSky
Summary: Time has a way of changing things, looks personalities morals and feelings. In some cases this can be a good thing but other times it can be nothing but destruction. This tells the story of how ore beloved characters have changed going into their Junior year for better or worse. Bc sometimes good masks bad and bad corrupts the good and sometimes people change just as time runs out.
1. Back to School

A/N Alright so I re watched Pucca on netflix recently and since I am having sleeping problems and have lost all control of my life I thought I would try my hand at a fanfic for her! Woohoo yay! And if you can't tell from the description its not exactly going to be lovey dovey and there may be some adult themes later because you know Tobe being even more of an ass now that they are older and everything so if things get to bad I will change it to M. I don't want to ruin anything but I guess I owe everyone this so I don't get chewed out, the shippings mentioned and showed in this story are going to be Ching/Abyo, Pucca/Garu and Pucca/Tobe and possibly some Pucca/RingRing but that's not a definite thing yet so do not quote me or nothing. Okay enough of listening to me blubber on, onto the story!

P.S okay I lied but I love hearing feed back (no not flames actual critique) so review, review, review my lovely readers :)

Pucca stared nervously into the mirror as she tied her hair back, worried what her friends would think of her changing her signature buns. Its not that she didn't like her hair but going into her junior year of high school she thought maybe it was time for a change. Instead of her usual odango's she pulled her black locks into a messy bun atop her head with her bangs framing her face and caramel eyes.

She stood up with a gulp and looked her whole self over once more, to make sure everything was perfect, especially if she was serious about gaining Garu's affections this year! Not that she hadn't been serious every other year … but still a new look was sure to draw some attention to her! But of course everything was in place as it should have been. Her red shirt fell just under her belly button with her long sleeves billowing around her arms, black pants slightly baggy but staying firmly on her hips and covering her black flats.

As always she looked perfectly fine but as always Pucca thought something was wrong. Still she forced herself to grab her gray messenger bag and slung it over her shoulder, reminding herself that Ching would soon be there to fetch her for school. And of course right at her side would be Abyo and following him would be …. Garu! She grinned just thinking about his name and giggled as she blew a swift kiss to the poster of him she still had taped to her wall though over the years she had made his presence in her room a little less stalker like with only a few photos of him left, the rest of her walls filled with posters and photos of days spent with friends.

It was then that Yani poked her head in through the door and meowed with impatience sending Pucca a small glare. Pucca gasped "Oh I was so anxious about today that I forgot to give you your breakfast." she said with alarm as she rushed out of the door, picking the annoyed feline up as she dashed off to the kitchen. "Good morning uncles!" Pucca called out as she entered the swinging doors of the kitchen giving each of her uncles a kiss on the cheek before setting Yani down and moving at an unnatural speed to prepare the cats breakfast before she had to go.

"Good morning my dear, aren't we in a rush today." Dumpling laughed as he, along with Ho and Linguini, watched their niece scurry about. He squinted his eyes a bit and took a step forward asking "Did you … do something with your hair today?" he asked with shock grabbing her arm and turning her to face him after she had placed Yani's bowl on the ground. "Oh ho ho you did! New tactic in the war to win Garu's love hm?" he asked with a grin releasing her as she gave an indignant huff. He just chuckled though and she soon joined him with her own giggles.

"Well yes and no. Yes because I do hope he will like it and no because I thought it was just time for a change." Pucca replied twirling a strand of hair along her finger and looking up at her uncles "Does it … Does it look alright?" she asked innocently.

"Pucca darling any way you fix your hair or anything you wear or any style you do your make up looks amazing because its still you." Linguini answered with a kind smile before gently nudging her out of the kitchen and through the front doors of the restaurant. "Now go, you don't want to keep Ching waiting." he told her to which she nodded and jogged down the street to the two girls normal meeting place.

Pucca stopped at the corner and rested against one of the many lion statues that surrounded the town, crossing her arms and every so often blowing her bangs out of her face, still contemplating if she should quickly redo her hair or not. She had just gotten herself so worked up about it that she had actually started to pull out her brush when she suddenly heard a familiar voice call out to her, along with an equally familiar cluck. "Pucca oh my gosh, your hair!" Ching cried out, running up to her best friend and pulling her into a tight hug.

Pucca grinned and returned the hug eagerly before pulling away and holding the other girls hands in her own as they both bounced on the balls of their feet. "You like it then? I was nervous but I figured it had been so long since I had done anything different with my hair that it was time." she said rather quickly, clearly showing her still present anxiety about the problem. She knew it was something silly to fuss over but after so long it felt like her odango's had become part of her persona and it felt almost sad not to have them any more.

"Are you kidding me it looks great, you should have gotten bangs a long time ago." Ching said pulling her hands away to readjust her book bag. Over the years Pucca hadn't been the only one to change and this was apparent by looking at the trio in front of her. Ching now wore her hair in a long single braid that just grazed her hips, her purple kimono inspired outfit was replaced with a plain purple v-neck that showed her developed assets all to well and black short shorts with matching black combat boots. Though of course Won still sat contently on top of her head.

Abyo had probably changed the least out of them with his hair looking as if not even the wind could move it, though he now often wore a beanie with the word ninja over it, and had that strange need to rip off his shirt whenever there was a crowd, which still got him in trouble with Ching though he never did figure out what the problem was. Though Ching had convinced him to get rid of his training uniform so he now wore dark jeans, black vans and a black button up over a plain white shirt that was often ripped to shreds

Then there was Garu who seemed to have changed a lot to most eyes, mostly now because he had broken his vow of silence along with Pucca's (though she choose to forget it was because he did it so he could finally shout at her to leave him alone three years ago) though he still didn't speak very often when around a lot of people. He had continued to grow out his hair though ditched his pigtails, now wearing it in a single pony tail at the base of his neck, and had gotten rid of the ninja suite with the heart. He now wore a plain red shirt with a large black hoodie over it, often with the sleeves rolled up, and dark baggy jeans though if you ever saw him without the hoodie you would see a heart tattoo over his left bicep with a ninja star tearing through it.

"Thanks Ching." Pucca said warmly flashing her friend a gracious smile before her eyes trailed over to the boy who had been the center of her desires for years. She then giggled and, just as he spotted her and tried to side step her, she latched onto his arm and nuzzle her nose into his neck. "Good morning Garu~" she sang making sure to keep a tight hold on him so he wouldn't get away.

Garu groaned and sent a glare over to Abyo, who was suppose to warn him if Pucca was about to pounce, but of course he was off flexing for Ching once again, who was indulging him by feeling his muscles even though they couldn't have grown any since yesterday. Seeing no way out of her death grip Garu simply sighed and started to walk to school, every once in awhile trying to shake her off and refusing to make eye contact with the girl on his arm. "Morning Pucca, you changed your hair." he stated in a monotone not revealing if he liked it or not since it didn't really bother him one way or the other. It was just hair after all but if he forced himself to take her whole self in he would suppose she looked nice. He could never tell her that of course, he would never hear the end of it.

"So you did notice!" Pucca squealed looking up at him with sparkling eyes and Garu slapped a hand to his face, he should have known that something as simple as just pointing that out would have made her swoon. He should have just said nothing at all since anything he said made her swoon. Then again it seemed when he did say nothing she only pestered him even more.

"Yes now will you let go, your clingyness is making it hard to walk straight." Garu snapped taking his one opportunity, while she was distracted, to pull his arm free and squeeze himself in between Ching and Abyo, not even caring about the protest from either of them. Pucca just shrugged, falling into step beside Ching and not complaining about her captive getting away since he had noticed she changed her hair.

It was silent for a bit as they all walked towards their shared high school but as usual Abyo hated the peace of the moment and soon opened his mouth. "So has everyone gotten their schedule? I'm hoping I have some classes with you guys because the only interesting one I have is advanced P.E, which I will dominate!" he stated striking a pose as he pulled out the blue sheet that held his schedule.

"Hm let me see, I know Pucca and I have Pre Calc and History together already as for you ..." Ching muttered comparing his schedule to hers and most likely Pucca's as well since she had already learned it by heart. "Mm we have biology but thats it and its assigned seats so who knows where you will be sitting. What about you Garu, what is your schedule like?" she asked kindly looking over at the ninja boy expectantly.

A bit reluctantly Garu pulled out the crumbled up paper and handed it over to her. "Hm nothing with Abyo or I … but you have parenting with Pucca!" she said happily beaming over at her friend who was jumping and clapping with joy. Abyo though just started laughing, holding onto his sides "Y-you are taking parenting!? Thats a girls class!" he roared pointing at Garu accusingly.

Garu growled and slapped his friend roughly on the back of the head, instantly stopping the laughing and earning an indignant whine from him as well. "I didn't choose it but I signed up late so it was the only thing left. So no big ideas or anything." he stated sending a harsh stare over at Pucca who completely ignored it and returned air kisses instead.

"Well uh at least we all have lunch together!" Ching pointed out, not wanting a chase to start and was glad when they finally reached the front steps of Funny Love High. "Now come on guys we are going to be late for homeroom!" she said worriedly as she looked at the time and made a run for her own homeroom, Abyo at her heels since his was right next to hers. Garu and Pucca looked at each other for a brief moment and she grinned but Garu got a second's head start, which was all he needed, and ran for the homeroom he unfortunately shared with Pucca.

This only made Pucca let out a small sigh and hang her head, she wasn't going to surprise attack him or anything, all she wanted was to walk to class with him. She knew that he had good reason to run though, it would have been the kind of thing she would do, but after spending the summer working full time to start saving up for college she had melloed down a bit. All she needed was for Garu to notice that.

She didn't stay in low spirits for long though, she never did, because when she walked into class she saw the seat next to Garu open. She giggled and skipped over to take it, leaning her head on her hand as she looked over at him. "You didn't have to run, I'm not going to chase you any more or force my kisses on you." she said playfully as she tapped her fingers on her desk.

Garu raised an eyebrow and sat back with his arms crossed, suspicious but curious to her new approach. "Please don't get offended if I tell you that I don't quite trust you." he said narrowing his eye lids slightly but not trying to come across as threatening. Pucca simply shrugged and looked away, she kept a smile on her face but inside she did feel a small twinge of hurt.

She knew she may have been a bit … persistent in the past but it was still a mean thing to say that he didn't trust her. She had never lied to him and had done everything she could to try and keep him out of harms way so shouldn't that be enough to trust her even if he didn't return her feelings? "You don't have to believe me but I haven't lied to you before have I?" she asked in a bit more quiet voice but still sounding like the same cheerful Pucca.

Garu caught the change in her voice though and it made him frown. She didn't look upset or anything but that small change in her voice …. had he insulted her some how? If he had he hadn't meant too but thinking about it maybe he should have reworded his statement. Pucca had never lied to him and over the summer he had noticed that she wasn't chasing and surprising him as much as she use to.

He opened his mouth slightly to say he was sorry, if there was anything to actually apologize for, but quickly shut it again. What was he doing!? He had no reason to try and make her feel better even if he had upset her in some way, one summer of freedom was not enough to make up for years of stalking! He didn't care about her, no way, so he had no reason to try and lighten his harsh tone or words. Yet, as he glanced over at Pucca who was now listening intently to their teacher, he couldn't help but wonder if that was all true.

A/N … again! So sorry if this first chapter sucked but it was mostly to set up how they had changed to their teenage years and yada yada you know the drill. Also sorry if Pucca seems a bit wishy washy here too but I am trying to stay true to her character but also make her more mature at the same time which is kind of hard to do since she is so child like and happy. As for Garu well he is self explanatory since we all know he secretly loves Pucca but won't admit it hehe.


	2. Things May be Interesting Yet

A/N Two chapters in two days? Call me crazy but I have nothing going on in my life while my boyfriend is away so why the heck not immerse myself into a world that isn't real! Anyway I am hoping this chapter is a bit more structured then the last and that I can try and move along with the story. Oh! And a special thanks to Garucca-Lover24 for my first review, I am so glad you liked it! Extra brownie points for you my friend.

After homeroom the day passed by pretty uneventfully for Pucca. Classes were boring as usual, even more so since today was just 'meet and greet' since it was the first day back, and for the next three class periods she did nothing but take down the useless notes the teachers gave for how to act in their class and day dream about her one and only Garu. A few times during Pre Calc Ching had to even pull her out of her day dreams because she had started to make kissy faces at random people in the class room.

"Well that was certainly embarassing." Pucca grimaced as they walked out of class together, making sure to avoid eye contact with the boy she had unknowingly been goggling at during class. Ching simply laughed and leaned against the lockers as Pucca put away her new text books and grabbed what she thought she needed for her next class, which she then realized was Parenting! She quickly cheered up slammed her locker door shut with a girlish giggle.

Ching grinned back at her as they started walking again "So whats the game plan this year then Pucca?" she asked as they made their way through the crowded halls of the school "Same old same old I suppose?" Pucca smiled and shook her head, turning on her heel to face her friend as they stood outside of her class room. Ching's eyes widened a bit, Pucca had done the same thing year after year to try and gain the love of Garu so she had no idea what to even begin to think Pucca had planed now. "You're not … going to use more extreme tactics are you?" she asked a bit nervously knowing how carried away her friend could get at times.

Pucca rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips "No!" she scoffed and pouted a bit, did her friends really think that she was that crazy? "Its simple really, I am going to try and be his friend." she said with a giggle and a bit of a wink "I figured he wasn't taking to being my boyfriend so well so its time to go back to square one, friendship. Then that will lead to best friends and then of course a boy and a girl who are best friends always fall in love at some point so that will lead to him loving me forever and ever and ever!" she squealed bouncing on her toes as hearts seemed to fly around her head.

Ching laughed a bit and shook her head as slowly started to walk in the direction of her own class, wishing Pucca luck as she waved a small good bye over her shoulder. Pucca continued to smile and let out a dreamy sigh at her own plans before finally turning around to walk into class. Only to walk straight into someone. "Oh I am so sorr … Tobe!" Pucca growled taking a jump back, her hands balled into fist as she stood on guard facing the boy.

And sure enough it was the ninja who so often tried to attack the one she loved, though Pucca had to admit without his usual garb he looked almost …. handsome. He had his dark brown hair pulled back into a spiked pony tail at the back of his head, a few strands here and there falling down to rest against his scarred face and his ninja gear had been switched out with cargo pants, a black shirt and a dark green hoodie. "Hello there Pucca, you seem quite worked up today." he chuckled raising an eye brow at the girl and motioning with her hand for her to go through the door first "Ladies first, right?"

Pucca glared at him for a few moments, wondering what kind of trick he was trying to play. About a year ago, after a huge fight between Garu, Tobe and herself the rouge ninja had become awfully nice to her. Though of course he was still fighting Garu after school hours indicating that he hadn't exactly had a change of heart. "Look I'm just trying to be polite, I'm not going to hurt you or anything." he said with a roll of his eyes when she hesitated going in before him, waiting another couple moments to see if she would accept the gesture.

"Alright thanks then … creep." Pucca muttered as she hurried by him and into the classroom, taking note that Garu had not arrived yet, and taking the first empty seat available. Much to her disdain Tobe helped himself to one of the empty seats on either side of her. "Is there any reason you are choosing to bother me instead of one of your pig headed minions in the back there." Pucca hissed, jerking her thumb over her shoulder to point at the afore mentioned minions who were being their idiot selves in the back and hitting each other with the rulers they had found. "And why are you taking this class anyway," Pucca said in accusing tone as if it were a crime.

"Well like most of the guys in this class will tell you I got shoved in here last minute because I needed a class and as for sitting next to you, well, wouldn't anyone want to sit next to a lovely girl instead of a pack of bumbling fools?" he asked flashing her an admittedly charming smile. Against her wishes Pucca felt her cheeks heat up a bit at the compliment, which Tobe took full note of. "Oh and by the way, I like what you did with your hair." he said in almost a purr, spotting Garu from the corner of his eye and leaning in towards the girl to take a strand of her hair and play with it for a few seconds.

At this Pucca couldn't help but giggle a bit, yes she knew Tobe was not exactly the best guy in the world but, thinking back to how nice he had been treating her, she thought maybe he wasn't the worse either. That and her girly hormones were taking over, making her enjoy the attention she was getting since she never got it from Garu. But the moment was soon gone when her self proclaimed 'Garu senses' started to tingle and she sat up straight, her cheeks reddening as she spotted the ninja boy looking at the pair sitting together.

"Tobe … what are you doing" Garu said coldly walking up to them, his heart racing and the feeling of wanting to punch the guy who had so often tried to kill him stronger then it usually was for reasons he couldn't explain and he didn't really want to think about. All he knew was that this douche was sitting with Pucca and, though he didn't return her emotions, he didn't want to see her getting hurt in some stupid plan of Tobe's either. _Pucca can handle him easily though, so is it because I don't want to see her with him or that I don't want to see her with some other guy_ he thought to himself as he took the seat next to her, since it was the only one left after all. He caught his own thoughts though and quickly made a sour face, where the hell did that come from? Of course it wasn't jealousy, it was just because he got angry every time Tobe was around. Yeah that had to be it.

"I didn't know it was a crime to pay attention to cute girls, Garu." Tobe retorted leaning back in his seat and resting his arms behind his head. He then cocked his eyebrow a bit seeing the weird look that came across Garu's face, and it hadn't been from his reply. He wondered what could have been on his mind to draw that face out but as he continued to watch his rival he saw that his eyes lingered on Pucca, if only for the quickest of moments, and this caused Tobe to grin. So it seemed his suspicions about his feelings for the innocent girl had been right after all, even if Garu himself did not know it yet. Tobe tapped his pencil on his desk and chuckled to himself, this was going to make his plan all the more fun.

Pucca glanced nervously between the two ninja's. She knew a fight wouldn't break out between them during class, they had called a truce during school hours so no innocent bystanders would get hurt, but the tension was so think she could cut it with a knife. Trying to draw attention away from the staring contest the two seemed to now be locked in, Pucca turned to Garu with an anxious smile and asked kindly "So how has your day been so far Garu? Didn't you have Santa as your english teacher this year?" she asked with a small giggle just imagining what sort of class Santa would lead any way.

This seemed to be an effective way to gain both boys attention because Pucca now feel two pairs of harsh eyes turned to her, though one was not as harsh as the other but unfortunately it wasn't the one she would have hoped for. "Yeah that was … interesting." Garu mumbled before turning to face the front of the class, pulling his hood up to block out the rest of the world, which was his way of telling everyone to leave him the hell alone for a bit.

This use to not deter Pucca in the least bit, she would always just pull it back down and continue talking, but this time she decided it was probably best to give him some time. After all, her previous attempts had not exactly ended very well in terms of her earning his affection. Besides if Tobe was going to act civilized for once it might be worth the chance to talk to him for a bit longer, and of course see how many more compliments she would receive from him. It wasn't that she thought she was going to like him any more because of it but it was nice to feel admired once in awhile when all one did was spend their energy on admiring someone else.

So she turned to faced the scarred, yet still some how handsome, face of Tobe with a smile still drawn on her features. "So Tobe …." she started wondering how to proceed with the conversation since she hadn't actually talked to him before "How has your day been so far? Any interesting classes?" she asked decided that a casual approach was the best. Any approach would have been good really as long as he watched his mouth and didn't start his revenge talk about Garu.

Tobe would have been lying if he said he wasn't surprised Pucca was trying to talk to him. It wasn't that he had expected open hostility from her but for her to be acting so nice to him was a change, though it was a nice one. He guessed he shouldn't have expected anything less from her though, she was the type of girl always willing to give people a second chance and he was going to take full advantage of that fact. "Oh not really but I do think that if I have the chance to sit and talk with you this period my day may brighten up immensely." he replied, laying the flattery on thick.

The flattery did the trick to because Pucca was once again giggling and playing with a strand of her hair as she looked over at him with a small blush forming on her cheeks. She wasn't sure why Tobe seemed to be flirting with her, and some where in the back of her mind a voice was telling her to be cautious, but she wouldn't deny that she liked it. It had been awhile since someone had flirted with her, sure she did a lot of it herself but it felt different when she was receiving the flirtatious comments. And as much as she didn't want to accept it, she liked it. So, not wanting the giddy feeling to go away, she returned the flirting right back. She didn't actually mean anything by it of course but she had no way of knowing this was exactly what Tobe had wanted.

A/N Another short chapter with not a lot happening but I'm trying to not rush the drama or anything but at least now we have all the main players of the game involved! And I think we can begin to see what may be taking place in chapters to come but I'm not going to reveal anything. But I think we all know that -bbbbbbbbbbbbeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eepppppppppppp- hehe you thought I was going to tell didn't you. Nu uh *best River Song voice* Spoilers~ Anyway I promise that something is actually going to happen next chapter and it won't be just a filler! Until then, Alonsy!


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